A YEAR WITH

ASLAN

Daily Reflections from

The Chronicles of Narnia

C. S. LEWIS

Edited by Julia L. Roller

Harper One

An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

Today’s Reading

a year with aslan: Daily Reflections from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Copyright © 2010 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Extracts taken from The Chronicles of Narnia. Copyright © C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. 1950–1956. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.

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HarperCollins®, ®, and HarperOneTM are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers

Illustrations and endpapers by Pauline Baynes. Copyright © C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. 1950–1956.

The Chronicles of Narnia®, Narnia®, and all book titles, characters, and locales original to The Chronicles of Narnia are trademarks of C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Use without permission is strictly prohibited.

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first edition

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898–1963.

A year with Aslan: daily reflections from The chronicles of Narnia / C. S. Lewis; edited by Julia L. Roller.—1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-06-198551-5

1. Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898–1963—Calendars. 2. Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898–1963—Quotations. 3. Conduct of life—Quotations, maxims, etc. 4. Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898–1963. Chronicles of Narnia. I. Roller, Julia L. II. Title.

PR6023.E926A6 2010

823′.912—dc22

2010012439

Preface

Some books are fun to read. Rarer are those volumes that still delight us upon rereading. And then there are those rarefied species of books, those that we read, read again, and again, and keep reading. In fact, a part of us never really leaves the story. They become part of the geography of our souls, the landmarks by which we map and measure our lives. At least that has been my experience with C. S. Lewis’s Narnia books. Unlike most, I missed them completely when I was the right age to begin and only discovered them in college. And so my cycle of reading began. Especially helpful was the cover I was given by having two daughters who pleaded with me each night to read the books to them. “Well, if you insist.” Still, forever after, unbidden, and at all the right moments in my life, I saw Eustace struggle with his dragon skin, Digory debating obedience to Aslan versus saving his mother, Lucy chastising herself for sticking with the group even after she saw Aslan, Edmund facing his shame after his rescue from the White Witch, or Tirian and Jewel racing up Aslan’s mountain laughing while the dwarves think ...